As Time Goes By
by StrangeVisitor
Summary: Xover with Smallville. Sequel to chap 4 of 5 times Immortal!Dean met Meta!Chloe. Back on earth that was Dean knew Chloe Sullivan, but was unaware of her meta abilities. Centuries later he finds out about her mutant immortality. Written with Pen37
1. Gestalt Therapy Courtesy Chloe Sullivan

Title: Gestalt Therapy Courtesy Chloe Sullivan  
**Author of Chapter 1: pen37 **(i'm posting her chapter because it's part of the series)  
Fandoms: Supernatural/Smallville/Highlander  
Rating: G

Summary:In the shared verse of Meta!Chloe and Immortal!Dean, Chloe kept her unaging status a secret from Dean for several hundred years. This is what happened when he finally found out.  
Takes place after **Against Her Will**, Chapter 4 of **Five Times Immortal!Dean met Meta!Chloe. **

* * *

**Chapter 1: Gestalt Therapy Courtesy Chloe Sullivan by Pen37**

Dean sat in the strange quarters, and stared blankly at the walls. _Chloe Sullivan is alive._

_Chloe Sullivan is alive. Alive is Chloe Sullivan. Chloe Sullivan alive is._ No matter how many times he said it, the words seemed strange. They were English. But they as well have been written in Sanskrit, for all the sense it made.

She _couldn't_ be alive. She'd been mortal. He'd followed her career. Felt the strange pang of regret when she'd died in some kind of -- helicopter crash.

But that had been a lie.

Her words from their last conversation in the cockpit rang in his head._ You weren't just a tool. You were a fully-stocked tool truck. With a tool trailer hitched on to the back, and your own tool warehouse supplying extra wrenches._

She'd lied to him. All along. Like he'd been some kind of chump.

The door snapped open, and Duncan stuck his head in. "Thought I'd find you in here moping."

"I don't mope," Dean growled at him.

"Sorry. Brooding then."

Dean responded with the one-finger salute.

"No thanks, you get up to that enough without my help."

"Ha Ha," he said dryly.

Without waiting for an invitation, Duncan came into the room, and sat on the other end of the bunk. "So the cute little blonde that you pined over is actually alive. What's your problem?"

"I did not pine."

"That's right. Because you don't pine." Duncan said slowly, as if speaking to a ten-year-old. "Look, you had quite the lingering non-crush on her, if what Richie told me is any indication. Now . . . she's alive and from the looks of things, not going to die. This looks like a win-win situation to me."

Dean frowned at him. "Then you're missing the part where she's been playing me for a sucker for the past couple hundred years."

"Is she? To hear Methos tell it, she's been stumbling into and out of trouble, all the while practically bending-over-backwards to keep you, us, Immortals out of it and safe. Which strikes me as ironic, considering the way you behaved back when the two of you were doing the UST dance."

"Chloe getting into trouble. Now that sounds like standard operating procedure," Dean said sarcastically.

Duncan pinned him with that look. The one that usually meant: I'm going to illustrate my point by bringing a hurting down on you. The one that usually led to hours of intense sword drills.

"Maybe we should stop verbally fencing and address the real issue?"

"I thought we were?" Dean raised his eyebrows.

"And I suppose the fact that she's here and alive, and Sam isn't has nothing to do with your current tantrum."

Dean glared at him.

"It's a perfectly natural response, Dean. They're the same age. Both of a similar temperament: both tenacious researchers. Both absolutely single-minded in their pursuit of what they see as right. The fact that she's suddenly here, back from the dead, as it were, and Sam isn't. That's got to have you thinking about how unfair everything is."

In response, Dean looked down at his hands.

"Why don't you talk to her?" Duncan stood and headed toward the door. As he passed, he patted Dean's shoulder. "I would hate for another couple hundred years to go by with the two of you avoiding each other. Even Immortal life is too short to be avoiding good friends."

***

She really hated spending too much time away from her ship. Okay, technically the ship belonged to Methos. But she was the one who maintained it. Back when he bought it, she'd spent six months playing ship rat: crawling through it and personally re-wiring it. Then taking the engine apart bolt-by-bolt and putting it back together the right way. Then re-writing the ship's onboard navigation system to be just a touch more responsive.

It may be Methos's ship, but it was her baby. And in the time she'd been gone, he'd played merry hell with the engines. And then tried to fix the damage himself. She'd told him what they could and couldn't do. But did he listen? She snorted at that. Get kidnapped by one crazy Kryptonian cult, and everyone else falls apart.

The sound of heavy footsteps coming down the metal steps to the engine room signaled to her that she wasn't alone. _Dean or Duncan_, she thought as she reached for a wrench that had obviously been trying to escape. _Methos's steps are lighter_.

A hand closed around the wrench and slid it over into her grasp.

"Thanks."

"Welcome." Dean's voice sounded hostile with anger.

Chloe sighed. So they'd hit that point. The one where he realized that she'd pretty much kept the fact that she was an unaging mutant from him for hundreds of years. Honestly, she'd been expecting it sooner. She tightened the wrench around a bolt and tried to lean into the handle to torque it loose.

"So were you ever going to tell me?" he growled out.

"Dean." She let out a snarl of frustration. Methos always tightened things up too tight. "At what point was I supposed to tell you? I knew you for about half-a-year. And that was hundreds of years ago. At the time, being open about being Meta was like accepting an invitation to _The Island of Dr. Moreau_."

Dean slipped his arms around either side of her, took hold of the wrench, and loosed the bolt easily. "You think any of us were like that?"

"I didn't know you at first." Chloe turned in his arms, still clutching the wrench and keeping it between them. "And by the time I felt like I could trust you – my silence had a momentum of its own. Every time I started to tell you, you would make some kind of perverted crack that kept me from saying anything out of spite."

"So is the old man the only one who knew?"

"And by that line, I assume you mean Methos. But no," she sighed. He was not going to like hearing this, either. "Richie knew, too."

"Really?" he said tightly. "You'll share with Richie but not with me?"

"I didn't mean for him to find out," Chloe said with a frown. "Remember that last hunt? When I fell out of that window?"

His eyes took on the distant look of remembrance. "Thought you broke your neck."

"I did," she said flatly. "Richie saw. You can't just lie your way out of something like that and I made him promise not to tell until I was ready. Guess I never was."

"So did you two date?"

She rolled her eyes at him. After all this time, what right did he have to play jealous boyfriend?

"What is it with you, Dean? I knew you for six months, and in that time you stole two kisses. If you think I owed you something, you should have made your intentions clear. Instead – you were out with a different girl each night." She bit off her retort mid-rant. She was opening up a can of worms that she really didn't want to open up. "Look, I saw you from a distance once or twice over the years. You didn't look like you missed me too terribly. And I was up to my neck in the kind of trouble that you guys didn't need to be involved in. Richie has been – there for me," she trailed off uncertainly. Her eyes cut left, as if she were looking for some way to escape the conversation.

"I could have been there for you," he said petulantly.

"It's a two way street, dude. You could have picked up the phone." She raised an eyebrow at him.

Dean looked troubled by her words. He released her as if she'd burned him and backed away. "Guess I could've." He tucked his hands in his pockets, leaned against the drive system, and shrugged. "So where'd you learn to work on engines?"

"It was me or Methos. And if I left it up to him, we'd wind up stranded in deep space with a limited air supply." She grinned at him. "I love the man like a brother, but I once heard him refer to a telephone as _one of those new-fangled far-speaking devices of Edison's_. Of course, he could've been picking on me for all the age jokes."

Dean looked down as if trying to hide the smile that was creeping across his face. "So," his right hand crept up to rub the back of his neck, and at last he looked up at her. "Why don't you show me what this baby can do?"

"Not a lot right now," Chloe passed him her wrench. "But if you'll help me put the drive system back together the way it's supposed to go – as opposed to the way Methos thinks it's supposed to go, it'll dance circles around anything else out there."

"Throw in a cooler of beer, and you've got a deal."

Chloe smiled at that. She'd never been adept at speaking Dean's language, but as best she could tell, he'd called a truce. Given their equally volatile tempers, she wondered how long it would last.


	2. The Fundamental Things Apply

**Title:** The Fundamental Things Apply  
**Author:** **StrangeVisitor**

**Rated**: PG  
**Fandom**: Supernatural, Smallville & Highlander: Immortal!Dean Universe  
**Characters**: Dean Winchester, Richie Ryan, Chloe Sullivan and Methos  
**Pairing**: Dean/Chloe  
**Disclaimer**: The characters you know and love all belong to their respective creators.

**Summary**: Dean has found out Chloe is alive after almost two hundred years but may be stupid enough to let her walk away again.

* * *

**Chapter 2 by StrangeVisitor: The Fundamental Things Apply**

Dean stood next to Richie as they watched Chloe and Methos head back toward the old man's ship.

"Dude, are you seriously going to let her fly away _again_?" Riche stared at his friend. Dean flinched under the accusing gaze.

"Shut up, Richie," Dean said. "You get no say in any of this. You knew she was alive and you never told me. Some friend you are."

"You want to be angry with me? Fine!" he snapped. "Hell, you can even shoot me if it'll make you feel better. But you know damn well why I kept her secret and you would have done the same if she'd asked."

Dean fingered the gun in his waist band as he considered Richie's offer. "Maybe later," he said. "Still think you should have told me."

"Wasn't going to happen." Richie shook his head. "You know I'd never betray that kind of trust."

"I really hate that you're right about that," Dean sighed. "And I guess I can't really shoot you over it either."

Richie smiled "Good, so no shooting me, but I may shoot you if you don't get your ass over there and tell her how you feel." Richie gestured toward the retreating figures.

Dean let out a forced chuckle. "What the hell are you talking about, Rich? I knew the woman for six months centuries ago. We were friends. That's all," Dean insisted, as much to convince Richie as himself.

Richie raised an eye brow as he studied the other Immortal. "Seriously, that's your story?"

"Don't look at me like that."

"You pined over that woman for decades, Dean. I am not going to hang around while you cry in your beer this time."

"I did not pine over some chick I barely knew," he insisted weakly. "I just – "

"Save it." Richie held up a hand and shook his head. "You are such an idiot. Are we gonna do this again? Really? Because this is your last chance before I go make my move."

Dean glared at his friend. "Bitch." He snapped and headed off to talk to Chloe, if only to shut Richie up.

"Hey Chloe," Dean shouted as he jogged toward where she and Methos were talking in front of his ship.

"Oh look, he's made a decision," Methos whispered as Dean approached. "Seriously, this is the guy you missed from all those years ago?"

"Behave," she said quietly and gave Methos a little shove. "I thought you and Dean were friends?"

"Define 'friends'," Methos quipped.

She rolled her eyes at the Immortal before turning to face Dean.

"Chloe, got a minute?" Dean asked as he stopped beside her.

"Well?" She looked back at Methos, who smiled and leaned against the ramp opening to the ship.

"Please don't mind me or the schedule I have to keep. I'm sure what ever Dean wants is much more important."

Dean made a face at Methos and grabbed Chloe's arm, dragging away from the old man's hearing.

Chloe allowed herself to be pulled along for all of five seconds before yanking her arm away. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Chloe snapped.

"I wanted to talk to you," he said, surprise at her anger etched on his face.

"Talk, yes. Manhandle, no."

"I wasn't trying to -" Dean stopped and groaned. "You know what? Never mind. Go have fun with the old man. I'm sure he's more your type anyway."

"Oh no, you don't get to blame Methos because you can't express yourself coherently in public."

"Why do you have to make everything so difficult? You disappear for centuries and now I'm the bad guy."

"It was for your own protection."

"Do I look like a damsel in distress to you? I didn't ask you to protect me," Dean growled as he stepped closer to her. "If anything, you should have let me protect you."

Chloe's eyes narrowed and she folded her arms across her chest to keep him at a distance. "Did you have anything less misogynistic that you wanted to share? Because I'm starting to remember why we never got together in the 21st century."

"We never got together because you lied to me; because you didn't trust me."

"I - I meant well," she said lamely as she looked up at him. Her defensive stance relaxed as she flopped her arms back to her sides. "It really did seem like a good idea at the time. I guess I may have taken the protection concept too far."

"Yeah, just a little," he said with a smug smile. "See, this is so not my fault." He reached out to push a wayward strand of hair from her forehead.

Chloe stood still allowing him to touch her. They stared into each other's eyes until she finally looked away. Clearing her throat, she asked, "You had something you want to tell me?"

Dean hooked a finger under her chin and forced her to meet his gaze again. "More like something I wanted to give you."

A look of confusion crossed Chloe's face which was gone in an instant when Dean leaned in to capture her lips with his. It was gentle, almost tentative. He didn't want to scare her away after all this time. He pulled back and dropped his finger from her chin.

She licked her lips and smiled. "You got any more with that came from?" she asked a wicked gleam in her eye.

He looked down at her with an equally mischievous grin. "You said no manhandling."

Chloe laughed. "Changed my mind."

Dean wasted no time in grabbing her around the waist and pulling her close as he dove in for a passionate kiss. Chloe flung her arms around his neck as her fingers ranged across his short hair. They were breathless when they finally broke apart.

"Stay," he poured all his hopes into that one word.

She bit her bottom lip and nodded. "Yes, I'll stay."

Dean let out a whoop of joy as he picked her up and twirled her around.

When Dean set Chloe down, she grabbed his hand and dragged him back to where Methos and Richie were waiting.

Before Chloe could say a word, Methos reached out to hug her. "Be happy," he whispered in her ear before releasing her.

Methos then pointed a finger at Dean. "Break her heart and I'll take your head."

Dean gave him a mock salute in acknowledgment of the threat.

"I'll just get my stuff," she said gesturing toward the ship.

"I'll help," Dean said as he followed her up the ramp.

They watched Chloe and Dean disappear into the bowels of the ship.

"About damn time," Richie said.

"If you say so," Methos groused. "All I know is I'm alone again without my favorite mechanic."

"You know, Methos, with Chloe staying here and taking up all of Dean's time, I wouldn't mind getting away," Richie said. "I'm a pretty good mechanic too."

Methos smiled at his friend as he thought about the offer. "Why not?" Methos said as he clapped the younger Immortal on the shoulder. "Welcome aboard."


	3. Waiting For a Girl Like You

**Title:** Waiting For a Girl Like You (1/1)  
**Author:** StrangeVisitor

**Rated**: R  
**Fandom**: Supernatural, Smallville & Highlander.  
**Verse**:Immortal!Dean in the Firefly Universe  
**Characters**: Dean Winchester, Richie Ryan, Chloe Sullivan and Duncan MacLoed  
**Pairing**: Dean/Chloe  
**Disclaimer**: The characters you know and love all belong to their respective creators.

A/N: Chloe in this 'verse is borrowed from **pen37**'s Chloe and the Immortals verse

**Summary**: After finding Chloe again, Dean is still trying to figure out exactly what they mean to each other.

* * *

** Chapter 3 by StrangeVisitor: Waiting For a Girl Like You **

Duncan hated goodbyes, most Immortals did. Sometimes it seemed like life was one long series of goodbyes. Knowing that Chloe and Methos were leaving today, he'd slipped out early to make a restocking run for the Impala.

As he approached the ship, he was surprised to see Richie standing on the ramp to the ship with duffel on his shoulder.

"Going somewhere, Rich?"

"Thought I'd travel with the old man for awhile."

Duncan let his surprise show. "You and Dean have a fight I don't know about?"

"Nope," Richie quipped, a big smile on his face.

Duncan was missing something. He stared at Richie who tilted his head down the road and it became clear why the younger Immortal was taking off. Dean was approaching; he had one arm wrapped around Chloe's shoulder and the other pulled a rather large piece of luggage. "About damn time Dean got it right."

Richie laughed. "No kidding. But I have no desire to fly around the verse watching those two get better acquainted."

"Duncan, you're back," Chloe said as she approached the two Immortals. "Did Richie tell you we're swapping places?"

"He did, but are you sure you want to spend more time cooped up with this guy?" Duncan pointed a thumb at Dean.

"Hey! You've spent the better part of the decade 'cooped up with me'," Dean reminded him.

"And Duncan still has his sanity. Amazing," Chloe snarked. "I think I'm safe. Besides it'll be good for Methos break in a new sidekick."

"I am not a sidekick," Richie protested. But it was clear his three friends were trying very hard not to laugh. "_ Hoo-tsuh _. I'm not!"

"Hate to break it ya, Rich, but you've always been ours." Dean threw a knowing smirk at Duncan

Richie looked at Duncan who nodded his approval of the moniker. "_Chur ni-duh, Mac_," he snapped before swinging his glare to Chloe.

"Welcome to the club," she quipped.

"Chloe, you traitor."

"Just remember the hero can't escape the villain's lair with out his trusty sidekick. Or in Methos' case, rebuild his own engine."

Richie sighed, reluctantly acknowledging his status in the Immortal hierarchy. "I'll remember that." He stepped up to Dean holding out his hand. "Until the next crisis."

"Take care of yourself, dude." Dean clasped Richie's hand.

"You coming, Mac?" Richie asked.

Confusion crossed Duncan's face. "Riding around the 'verse with the old man? I don't think so," he laughed

"You sure, Mac?" Dean pushed. "I mean, Chloe and I would love to have you – "

It was very clear from the look on Dean's face that he actually wouldn't love to have Duncan tagging along. Mac felt like smacking his forehead as he recognized his potential third wheel status and backed off from his earlier declaration. "On second thought, Methos does need someone to keep him honest."

"Very true," Chloe agreed. "He needs people around to annoy him; prevents him from becoming Mr. Antisocial-Crankypants."

Mac looked back at the hover car of supplies he was toting. "Help me get this stuff offloaded and I'll be out of you hair."

"I'll just go tell Methos you're coming too." Richie gestured over his shoulder as he backed away from them.

"Hey, no shirking you duties!" Dean called after him.

"I'm not your sidekick anymore, Dean."

_ "Jien tah-duh guay!_ Get back here and help, Richie."

Laughing, Richie gave a cheeky salute before hurrying toward Methos' ship.

"He makes a good point," Mac said as he headed up the ramp leaving the cart parked in front of the ship.

"Now, where are you going? You have to help me unload the provisions."

Duncan shrugged like it was obvious. "Gotta pack."

"But – " Dean point to the pile of supplies.

"Not your crewmate any more," Duncan laughed.

"_ Hwoon dahn _!"

"If you want, I can stay. I'm sure Methos doesn't need both me and Richie annoying him." Duncan paused on the ramp waiting for Dean to concede.

Sighing, Dean waved a hand at him to keep going. "_Kwai chur hun-rien duh di fahng._"

"Thought so," Duncan quipped as he headed in to the bowels of the ship.

* * *

Dean had spent the better part of an hour securing the supplies for take off while Chloe unpacked her stuff.

He walked down the corridor surprised to see the hatch for Richie's old bunk open. "Chloe?" He called down into the opening.

"Down here." She stepped closer to the small metal ladder that led up to the passageway so he could see her. "Just finishing up."

"Yeah, that's great." He hesitated. He'd just assumed that when she's agreed to travel with him that they'd be sharing a bunk. He wanted to ask her what she was doing in Richie's bunk but chickened out from confronting her and instead he gestured over his shoulder. "I'll just go make us some lunch before we take off."

Dean was hoping she would stop him; explain why her stuff wasn't in his bunk. Instead she just nodded and with a bright, "I'll be right there," stepped out of view.

Feeling a little confused, Dean headed into the galley. He grabbed some tubers from the bin and began chopping the vegetables; using the mindless activity of food preparation to help focus his thoughts.

It's not like he expected to find her lying naked on his bunk…Ok maybe he _hoped_ he'd find her lying naked on his bunk…but he certainly didn't expect that they'd go tooling around the verse as platonic friends, which was what her choice of residence implied. _Gorammit_ he didn't want Chloe as that kind of friend; he had Duncan and Richie to hang out with if all he wanted was another buddy. He wanted more from Chloe. In fact, he wanted the full complicated relationship treatment.

That thought should have scared him but somehow it didn't. He'd spent the past centuries hopping from bed to bed. He'd never really had anything that could be called a meaningful relationship. Even his one time affair with Amanda had never been more then two people enjoying each other's company in bed. Besides he suspected she'd only done it to make Duncan jealous.

Dean shook his head trying to get his thoughts back on track. Chloe – Relationship –Those two words felt right together. But suddenly it appeared that Chloe didn't feel the same way and if she didn't, why had she kissed him and why had she agreed to travel with him?

"I think you've beaten them into submission," Chloe said as she walked into the galley.

Dean looked down at the pulverized vegetables and grimaced when he realized he'd practically pureed them in his frustration over the situation. "Guess so," he admitted.

She walked over and leaned against the counter to look up at him. "Maybe I should take over."

Dean put the knife down, threw his hands up and stepped away. "It's all yours."

Chloe didn't move; she just stood there a quirky smile on her lips like she had a secret. If she was waiting for him to figure it out, she'd be waiting a long time because he had come to the conclusion that he had no clue as to what she expected of him. As the silence stretched between them, Chloe's grin broadened and he was sure she was enjoying his discomfort.

"So," he said clearing his throat. "You all settled into Richie's old bunk?"

"My stuff is."

Dean didn't quite understand her reply. Did she mean that because she was standing here, she wasn't in the bunk? Was that supposed to be some kind of pun? "Yeah, I guess those quarters are kind of small compared to your place on Methos' ship."

"Yours is actually bigger, but I found plenty of space for all my stuff." Chloe continued to smile at him.

_What did that mean?_ he wondered. The woman was driving him crazy. Was she flirting with him or simply trying to establish platonic boundaries? He hated these games and maybe that's why he'd avoided relationships in the past. Knowing or caring what the other person wanted had never been his strong suit. He always knew what he wanted. And right now he wanted to sweep her off her feet, carry her to his bunk and find out what she looked like naked and writhing under his touch. But as for what Chloe wanted – well, he'd never been a mind reader.

Dean needed to escape; to get away from her before he acted on those impulses which would probably send her running back Methos. He backed away toward the cockpit. "I guess...I mean if you're making lunch, I should get the Impala into the black."

Her smile fell a little. "Oh…sure," she said quietly as she turned back toward the counter and the ruined vegetables. "I'll be here, if you need me."

Suddenly, Dean wondered if he'd missed some hidden meaning in her words; what she'd really been implying with all that talk about her stuff. He walked up behind her and laid a hand gingerly on her shoulder. She immediately reached up to caress it with her own as she leaned back into him.

Everything about her body language told him she wanted him close, but she was still a bit of a mystery. He steeled himself for a disappointing answer as he asked, "Why did you put you stuff in Richie's bunk?"

He felt her straighten and she spun around to face him. "Because you didn't leave me any drawers in yours."

It took him a moment to register her words and that the mirth had returned to her eyes. "You mean…that is - " he hesitated hoping she'd fill in the blanks, but she obviously wasn't going to make this easy for him. "You'll be sleeping in my bunk."

She placed a hand on his chest and trailed it suggestively up to his cheek. "I kind of hoped we'd be doing more than sleeping."

_Finally a straight answer._ He moved his arms around Chloe's waist pulling her to him. He captured her mouth in his and she willingly responded, allowing him access.

Her arms reached up to circle his neck. She moaned as he deepened the kiss and that was all the invitation he needed to continue to plunder her mouth. He felt her melt into him as he ran his hands down her back resting them around the curve of her bottom.

He needed her naked now. When he broke the kiss, Chloe looked a little disappointed and confused until Dean spun her in his arms and lifted her easily from the floor. As he maneuvered them out of the galley and down the corridor, Chloe threw her arms around his neck and began showering his chin and cheeks with gentle kisses.

When her kisses reached his lips, he slowed his steps to return her attention and focus on the feel of her tongue intertwining with his. Upon reaching the hatch to his quarters, he ended the kiss and reluctantly set her on her feet, knowing he couldn't carry her down the ladder. She gazed up at him, lips swollen, a slight flush to her skin and a hungry look in her eyes. She was beautiful. He smacked the button to open the hatch.

"What about dinner?" She teased.

He pulled her close. "Dessert first."

"I think –"

Dean crushed his mouth down on hers. He didn't want to know what she was thinking; thinking was not allowed. He finished the kiss. "No more talking," he said as he guided her to the hatch.

Chloe just nodded and quickly moved down the access ladder to his bunk. Dean smiled as he watched her disappear. Within in five minutes they would both be naked and living out the fantasies he'd been nurturing for weeks. At this rate they might never make it off Persephone and really that wasn't a bad plan either.

* * *

**Some Firefly Slang**  
Chur ni-duh. – Screw you  
Hoo-tsuh – Shut up - No Way!  
"Jien tah-duh guay!" – Like hell!  
Hwoon dahn – Jerk  
Kwai-chur hun-rien duh di fahng – Go far away very fast – Just leave


End file.
